Tell my why you don't like this kick.

[Dafydd]

I've showed this to a bunch of people, and most are only moderately impressed. The main gripe seems to be the kick, but no one has been able to explain what it is they don't like about it. Are you?

LINK HERE

Newer version

Should it be shorter, louder, more treble, what?

Also, if anyone wants to help with vocals for this, do tell.

[Rozovian]

Is the kick just the weak high frequency click as in the first part or does it include the bass that joins later? In any case, it lacks punch.

The click part isn't strong enough to serve as a kick on its own. Works as an intro, but not for the whole track, even when combined. Some mids would be good.

The bass part is slow. Dunno what the ideal length is, but I like my kicks at around 200ms (sometimes including the release tail). That's enough for punch, which is usually a frequency in the 50-200Hz band, something that varies depending on the frequencies present in the sound. If you're just having click plus one low frequency, you might be missing the pounch part, which I reckon is an octave above the low bass you've got.

Additionally, kicks tend to pitch down. The simplest bass drum sample I ever saw was just a sine wave quickly pitched down, and I've since done a few of those myself. Physically, it's probably something with how the drum skins work; theoretically wave diffusion or resistance in the material, idunno. Practically, it's like an old classic laser gun sound effect, just shorter and made to level out at an appropriate bass/subbass frequency.

Some food for thought about your kick. Cool track.

[Arcana]

I've showed this to a bunch of people, and most are only moderately impressed. The main gripe seems to be the kick, but no one has been able to explain what it is they don't like about it. Are you?

LINK HERE

Newer version

Should it be shorter, louder, more treble, what?

Also, if anyone wants to help with vocals for this, do tell.

What Rozovian said, it lacks punch. Needs more attack, If there's any kind of pre-delay on it (from reverb modules, etc) then get rid of it. You can also compress it for added punchiness.

[Dafydd]

"More attack", as in "less attack"? You think it takes too long to reach full volume, is that it? I'll see what I can do.

And by kick, I mean the thing that's actually a kick, it comes in at 00:32. The "click" you're hearing in the beginning is just the synth before the sidechain kicks in (the volume of just about every track in the song, except the drums, is compressed using a second drum kit that you never hear directly, other than as a sidechain).

Well then, I'll try to reduce attack on the kick, as well as decay/sustain/release, make it pitch down as it plays, and use that compressor trick I learned about somewhere.